Share prices don’t lie – dark times for Clive Peeters

Since announcing last week that the company had lost $1 million over the first quarter of FY09, Clive Peeters’ share price has plummeted, dropping 45 per cent.

On the morning that Clive Peeters managing director Greg Smith notified the ASX of this profit guidance, Clive Peeters opened at 37 cents. They closed that afternoon, 24 October, at 35 cents, down five per cent. This wasn’t the worst performance possible – it was almost encouraging considering how dire the profit guidance was – but the true impact of the announcement was yet to be realised.

When trading closed on Monday 27 October, Clive Peeters share price had dived almost 16 per cent to 29.5 cents. Yesterday, amid media speculation the company was on the brink of collapse, the price again tumbled, this time almost 29 per cent, closing at 21 cents. In trading today, the price has dropped to 20 cents.

This troubling week for Clive Peeters is a synecdoche of its recent history, however, with these falls in line with an overall downward trend. Back in the first half of 2007, Clive Peeters was trading at around $3.40 mark – more than Harvey Norman is today – but the company could not sustain these levels. By mid-2007 it was trading at below $2. It dropped below the $1 mark in the first months of 2008, and then the 50-cent mark a few months ago. All in all, since those heady days in 2007, Clive Peeters share price has dropped over 94 per cent.

Current.com.au has repeatedly contacted Clive Peeters’ management for comment, but our calls have not been returned.